Guide for Collaborative Recruiting and Hiring

Kristina Martic | 9/27/2018 | Recruiting

Introducing collaborative recruiting and hiring process to your company is a challenging task. In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know to make a smooth transition and reap all the benefits of team-based hiring!

Evolution of a hiring and recruiting process

Recruiting and hiring was traditionally a top-down process, where the manager was the ultimate decision maker.

However, in the last few years, the recruiting and hiring process is changing towards a more collaborative model.

Leading companies such as Apple, Google, Netflix have already switched to this collaborative model of hiring.

In this guide, you will learn what is a collaborative recruiting and hiring process, how to build it and how can your company benefit from including more people into your hiring process.

What is collaborative recruiting and hiring?

Definition of a collaborative recruiting and hiring

Collaborative recruiting is the hiring method in which both HR teams and teams from other departments engage in the recruitment process.

It means that HR professionals work together with the company’s employees during the whole recruitment process. This is why a collaborative recruiting is also known as “team-based hiring”.

Who should be involved in collaborative recruiting and hiring?

In a collaborative recruiting and hiring model, recruiting is a team sport.

Who exactly should be on your hiring team depends on your company and the positions that you have.

Usually, a recruitment team in a collaborative hiring includes people in different positions such as:

Recruiters

Hiring managers

HR managers

Executives

Other employees - future team members.

Best practice is to include employees who are above and below the candidate on your organizational chart. It can be a team leader or department manager and employees in the same position as the candidate or employees who will work closely with the candidate.

How can your company benefit from collaborative recruiting and hiring?

Although it may seem more complicated at first, a collaborative model of hiring can improve your whole recruitment process and have a positive effect on your company culture and overall business results.

Stage #1: Preparation

Your employees who work at the same position as the one you are looking to fill know better than anyone what are the tasks, duties and responsibilities required for that position.
Besides, your employees can provide you with a great idea for selling your job - simply ask them why they love working at your company!

Stage #2: Finding candidates

By setting up an employee referral program, you can turn all your employees into recruiters! Your employees can help you find the best candidates by recommending talent form their personal networks.

They can also help you find the best candidates by sharing your job posts on their social media profiles. According to Social Media Today, messages shared by employees went 561% further than the same message shared on a brand owned channel!

Stage #3: Attracting candidates

Attract the best candidates by presenting a collaborative company culture, celebrating teamwork and showcasing your employees’ expertise!

Make sure to feature a team photo on your company’s career site. Aks your employees to write on your company’s career blog and share their experience of working at your company in video testimonials!

Stage #4: Selecting candidates

First, establish clear hiring criteria and define must haves and nice to haves for a certain position. Gather your whole team together and choose the best interview questions.

Have each member of your hiring team assess a different thing in a candidate, according to their expertise.

For example, if you’re hiring a software developer, a hiring manager can help you assess your candidate's motivation and communication skills. Your software developer is the best person to evaluate your candidates’ technical skills, and other members of your team can help you judge their cultural fit.

Make sure you use scorecards to make your evaluation process streamlined and transparent!

Stage #5: Hiring

At this stage, you should gather your whole recruiting team to discuss every candidate and make the final hiring decision. Allow each team member to share their impressions on every candidate. By hearing out every opinion, you will be able to achieve an in-depth, detailed assessment of every candidate. This will help you choose the best candidate not only for your open position but also for your team and company culture.

Having more people sharing their perspectives can also help you avoid unconscious biases and improve your hiring diversity!

Stage #6: Onboarding

Onboarding is an especially delicate stage of every recruiting process. In this stage, your new employees have to learn a lot about new position and role in your company. They also have to find a way to fit in your team and adjust to your specific company culture.

Your employees have a crucial part in this stage. Best practices for successfully onboarding new employees include setting up a buddy program, introducing the new employee with other teams and departments and organizing team lunches.

How to build an effective collaborative recruiting and hiring process?

Here are the 3 key tips to help you build an effective collaborative recruiting and hiring and process:

Tip #1: Establish guidelines

Establish clear guidelines for your new, collaborative hiring process. Make sure that all members of your hiring team understand their role and what is expected of them. Set deadlines and meetings. It is also advisable to discuss how exactly your hiring team will communicate - in team meetings, through email, a dedicated Slack channel, your recruitment software, etc.

Tip #2: Provide training

Provide training for your team members and introduce them with best practices in the recruitment and selection process. A good idea is to set up a mock recruiting process. Have one of your employees outside your hiring team play a candidate and go through each stage of your hiring process. That way, you can try out and test your new hiring model

Tip #3: Use the right tools

Modern recruiting software such as our TalentLyft is created to enable and support collaborative recruiting and hiring process.